Isistius Brasiliensis

The cookie cutter shark lives at depths of up to 3500 feet. It gets its name from the peculiar habit it has of latching on to prey (whales and large fish) with its enormous jaws, then rotating its body to remove circular chunks of flesh for consumption. A small patch on its underbelly grows a bright green, a bioluminescent device to fool large fish into thinking it easy prey. Thus, it is the very absence of luminescence over much of the body that acts as the lure — the only known case of such a reversal of the norm.

Idiacanthus antrostomus

The female Pacific Blackdragon gets up to two-feet long, with wicked fangs and a long protrusion from their chins. With their long whiskers, the females lure prey close enough to snap them up with their razor-sharp teeth. The males, by contrast, reach only three inches in length, and are essentially sperm packages. They have no teeth, no lure — and indeed, no stomach. They are born into the world, and immediately begin starving to death, living only long enough to mate with the female before dying and allowing the process to begin anew.

 

Megalodicopia hians

The Predatory Tunicate is a type of what many of us know as a sea squirt. Living at depths of up to 3300 feet, this plant-looking animal uses its bioluminescence to lure prey within. Once the animal comes inside, the tunicate acts like a Venus flytrap, closing suddenly and trapping the creature inside to be digested and serve as a meal. Once sated, the tunicate remains closed until it becomes hungry again. This tunicate is a simultaneous hermaphrodite, meaning it creates both eggs and sperm. If other tunicates are nearby it will release its sperm to breed, but if no suitable hosts are within range, it will simply breed with itself.